Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure customers are compensated when water companies fail to meet Ofwat targets.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Under new proposals set out by this Government, households and businesses will be entitled to higher payments from water companies when basic services are hit in a wider range of circumstances – with payments water company customers are legally entitled to when key standards are not met at least doubling.

The Government is also expanding the list of circumstances that can trigger compensation, to include payments for boil notices when drinking water standards drop, and for failures to conduct meter readings or installations as promised. It would mean recent outages in Hastings, Brixham and Bramley earlier this year would have all automatically led to compensation at higher rates for all customers.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to support small businesses to recruit new employees.

Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Our forthcoming Small Business Strategy will reaffirm our long-term support for small businesses and outline our vision for boosting scale-ups and helping all types of business to thrive and grow. This strategy will empower business owners and entrepreneurs to innovate, export, and create jobs across their regions.

In addition, as confirmed in the autumn Budget the Government has taken steps to protect small businesses by increasing the Employment Allowance to £10,500. This measure will help small businesses in particular - in 2024 small businesses (with 0-49 employees) make up 99.2% of the total business population.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions her Department has had with Hertfordshire County Council on local government reorganisation.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

There have been no specific discussions on local government reorganisation between the Department and Hertfordshire County Council, Broxbourne Council, or East Herts Council. The Department is always open to hearing from councils about government in their local area.

The upcoming English Devolution White Paper will set out more detail on the government’s reorganisation plans, including working with councils to move to simpler structures that make sense for their local areas, with efficiency savings from council reorganisation helping to meet the needs of local people.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions her Department has had with East Herts Council on local government reorganisation.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

There have been no specific discussions on local government reorganisation between the Department and Hertfordshire County Council, Broxbourne Council, or East Herts Council. The Department is always open to hearing from councils about government in their local area.

The upcoming English Devolution White Paper will set out more detail on the government’s reorganisation plans, including working with councils to move to simpler structures that make sense for their local areas, with efficiency savings from council reorganisation helping to meet the needs of local people.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions her Department has had with Broxbourne Council on local government reorganisation.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

There have been no specific discussions on local government reorganisation between the Department and Hertfordshire County Council, Broxbourne Council, or East Herts Council. The Department is always open to hearing from councils about government in their local area.

The upcoming English Devolution White Paper will set out more detail on the government’s reorganisation plans, including working with councils to move to simpler structures that make sense for their local areas, with efficiency savings from council reorganisation helping to meet the needs of local people.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to make it easier for patients in Broxbourne constituency to contact their GP practice to book appointments.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We know patients are struggling to contact their general practices (GP), including in the Broxbourne constituency. That is why we have committed to eliminating the 8:00am scramble for appointments by implementing a modern appointment booking system.

The most recent data from the Health Insight Survey found that between July and August 2024, 78% of people had successfully contacted their GP on the same day, in the last 28 days. Of those who tried to contact their GP practice in the last 28 days, 72.6% of adults perceived their overall experience of their GP practice as either ‘Very Good’ or ‘Good’.

99.4% of the primary care estate are now live with digital telephony and 90% have been enrolled to use online registration systems.

We are determined to reduce bureaucracy, which is why the Government has launched a red tape challenge, ensuring GPs spend less time filling in forms and more time caring for patients.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to encourage local authorities to apply for lane rental schemes.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department is in the process of updating its lane rental guidance and has recently announced a new assessment process for lane rental applications to improve and streamline the application process for authorities. We have been speaking to authorities directly as part of a series of regional visits and are also working with the Highway Authorities and Utilities Committee (HAUC) to develop their guidance for local authorities who are considering applying for a scheme.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure the adequacy of the Street Manager service.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Street Manager service is closely managed by the Department, with officials also overseeing ongoing development and improvement of the service in line with Government Digital Services best practice. There is a governance group made up of elected representatives from the public and private sector whom officials meet monthly, and a small group of subject matter experts are consulted on a weekly basis. A roadmap setting out future enhancements of the service is agreed with the governance group and published every six months. Users can provide feedback and raise any concerns they have about the service at any point, and a yearly survey monitors satisfaction.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many train collisions with people have been reported in each train operating company's network area in the last 12 months; and how many people were involved in such collisions in each area.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The number of people struck by trains in the last 12 months within each of Network Rail’s regions and routes is set out below. This data shows whether the incident led to a fatality or injury, and if it was classified as a suspected suicide or as non-suicidal. The total number of people struck by trains over this period was 339.